Why do (I.T.) Information Technology Projects Fail?

1.
Why do I.T. Projects Fail?
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FAILURE
Time
$
Scope
Quality
People Process
Understanding
Derris Boomer
www.boomertechnologygroup.com
sales@boomertechnologygroup.com
Tel: 732-800-2058
“25 percent of technology projects fail outright; 20 to 25 percent
don’t show any return on investment; and as much as 50 percent
need massive reworking by the time they’re finished.”
“54 percent of IT project failures can be attributed to project
management, whereas only 3 percent are attributed to technical
challenges.”-Forbes Magazine

2.
Triple Constraint on a Project
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
Understanding the Project Management Triple Constraint. All
projects are carried out under certain constraints – traditionally,
they are cost, time and scope. These three factors (commonly
called “the triple constraint”)
However a major constraint seldom looked upon is PEOPLE as a
resource. That constraint carries the highest importance of any
project.
PROCESS & UNDERSTANDING are the last constraints that lead to
failure!
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding

4.
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding
$-Cost Best Practices
• Use a project management tool to track resource hours,
tasks and hourly rates on weekly basis.
• Provide detailed forecasting for each phase of project.
• Have resources provide realistic projections and updates
on tasks.
• Do not over allocate resources that are assigned more
than 15% of critical path tasks.

5.
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding
Scope Best Practices
• Track Statement of Work (SOW) deliverables to every
project tasks. Align with all resources and project
timelines.
• Do not allow customer to fall into scope creep.
• Do not allow sales teams to under scope projects and/or
allow 20-25% slack time in deliverable dates
• Ensure Risk Analysis is well documented if project is NOT
following Best Practices.

6.
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding
Time Best Practices
• Ensure project is scoped correctly from experts. Sales
teams cannot adequately scope out projects without
input from technical and functional experts.
• Always provide detailed and summarized project plan and
outline milestones and critical paths.
• Follow triple constraint logic to ensure deliver dates to
not jeopardize project costs and/or quality
• Remember just adding more resources to a tasks does
not mean it will be completed faster. Have the resource
that has the expertise to complete it correctly is more
important.

7.
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding
People Best Practices
• Select resources that are “Subject Matter Experts-SME”
in the tasks. If they are not allow them time to be
trained/on-boarded to complete the tasks.
• Do not expect resources with full time production
responsibilities to be able to fulfill project tasks on time.
Alternatively have their day job activities shared or
reduced.
• If a resource cannot calculate how long it takes to
perform a tasks. Choose another resource.

8.
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding
Process Best Practices
• Customers should know business processes and provide
details in writing. Leadership and employees should be
able to functionally explain their processes. Do not allow
ambiguous processes to be brought forth without clarity.
• Ensure you have the correct ”Subject Matter Experts-
SME” involved in all process conversations and questions.
• During design sessions be sure to highlight inefficient
processes that can be automated or streamlined.
• Document risky processes and their associated
workarounds.

9.
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding
Understanding Best Practices
• Understanding Quality Management tasks. Quality
management is the process for ensuring that all project
activities necessary to design, plan and implement a
project are effective and efficient with respect to the
purpose of the objective and its performance.
• Client teams should be trained and on boarded on new
software/hardware
• Client support teams should have knowledge transfer on
end solution from functional and technical aspect.
• Client teams have BreakFix and Frequently Asked
Questions documentation to help resolve issues faster.

10.
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Quality
Scope
$
Time
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Understanding
Quality Best Practices
• Define User Acceptance Testing-UAT with defined quality
metrics.
• Shoot for high success rate of 80%-98%. Never going to
reach 100%. That is not reality.
• Ensure Change Management and Vendor Management
processes are aligned to quality metrics.
• Align end-user expectations with final deliverables.
• Better to under promise and over perform.
• Better to deliver a good product/project late and working
then on-time and lacking functionality.
• Do not chase delivery dates. Deliver dates should based
on Quality metrics and not just cost.

12.
Value of Service
1. Consumers will pay $70.00 - $180.00 per hour for automobile repairs. The more
expensive the vehicle the higher the price to repair and fix it.
2. Corporations pay millions of dollars to implement softwarehardware packages. The
more expensive the softwarehardware the higher the price to repair and fix it.
3. However corporations will look to pay bottom prices for system maintenance and
training. This is a mistake because there are productivity hours lost by not investing in
top talent. Hiring staff with junior level expertise can cost your project in 5 ways.
• Lost hours of productivity
• Increased hours to complete project
• Increased rework hours
• Decreased quality for project deliverables
• Inefficient delivered solution
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13.
Great synopsis – now what?
Before you start your next I.T. Project consider these 3 things
before you start:
1. How good has your organization performed in last 10 years of
I.T. Solutions implementations? Are you getting better or
worst?
2. Why are you missing the mark? How will you ensure better
success going forward?
3. Who can you reach out to for assistance?
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